Kenya

Kenya will go on with plans to construct its first ever nuclear plant to fill its power deficit, defying calls from Italian and German experts who urged the nation to instead focus on developing its renewable energy. East Africa’s biggest economy identified possible sites near Lake Turkana, Lake Victoria and the Indian Ocean, targeting to use the vast water resources to cool off the reactors once they start generating power.

"To fight climate change it has to be business unusual," says the head of the Kenya Climate Innovation Center Plastic littering the streets of Kariobangi is an eyesore for many residents. But for Aghan Oscar it spells opportunity. Thirteen years ago, Aghan, bothered by the ever-increasing quantity of plastic waste in this low-income suburb of Nairobi, decided to find a way to recycle it. Now his company, Continental Renewable Energy (COREC), produces poles for use in construction, farming, and road signage. So far he's sold 96,000, and he says his potential for growth is limited only by the considerable expense of setting up plastic recycling plants.

Kenya’s souped-up matatu minibuses — some with names, flashing lights and onboard entertainment to attract customers are often blamed for Nairobi’s snarled traffic, and Kenyan regulators have tried repeatedly to ban them. These efforts seem to elevate the status of matatus, whose owners try to outdo each other with graffiti-style artwork, custom designs, and loud music. Matatus generate jobs for 160,000 workers, many of whom have few other employment opportunities, according to a 2012 interview posted on the Magnum Foundation, website.

Using the pay-as-you-go model popularised by mobile phones, a remarkable Kenyan company, M-Kopa Solar, is providing rent-to-own solar energy products that will help provide cheap solar power to rural homes. The M-Kopa IV Solar Home System includes a solar panel, control unit, three low-energy LED light bulbs (one of which is a portable, rechargeable torch) and a rechargeable radio. The control unit also has a USB port for charging cellphones. It’s a perfect off-the-grid solar system for Africa, where land-based infrastructure is poor and electricity supply is frequently erratic. For a deposit of $35, buyers get the system then make 365 daily payments of $0.43 through mobile money system M-Pesa. When it is all paid off, the system belongs to the buyer outright.

M-Kopa has sold about 300,000 units in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. It sells 500 units a day and it aims to sell 1-million M-Kopa systems by the end of 2017. It employs 650 people in the four countries and a further 1,000 field agents. This seems like a small number against the backdrop of Africa’s 1.1-billion population, but M-Kopa is a great example of disruption, not in the technology space but at the business model level.